This invention relates to a package for implements including the provision for the sterilization thereof, and more particularly to a package for a medical or surgical implement which may be sterilized at a time and location remote from the packaging thereof.
The need for sterilized implements in remote locations has in recent years focussed attention on the manner of packaging these implements. For instance, the requirement that a surgical implement be sterile at the time of use in a remote location after considerable time has elapsed since packaging without the necessity of providing expensive and immobile sterilization equipment, is felt in military field use, industrial applications, etc. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,494,726, to Barasch, and assigned to the same assignee as the instant invention, there is disclosed a package and method for remote sterilization which is achieved by placing a surgical instrument in an enclosed package impervious to bacterial contaminants and containing therein a sterilizing gas releasably bonded to a substrate. By the application of heat, the sterilizing gas is released and sterilization of the surgical instrument effected at the remote location.
Although, in the aforementioned U.S. patent, sterilization of a surgical instrument by release of a sterilizing gas is provided, certain problems are encountered. One problem occurs during the period the surgical instrument is stored in the package. During this period, water vapor from the substrate can result in a deleterious effect, e.g. forming rust on the implement. Another problem is possible deleterious effects produced by the formation of a film of the sterilant on the instrument.